Practical Advice for a Better Date

Dating has led to more confusion than the Crystal Skulls. It's not as easy to get a date as you'd think even with the advent of modern hookup services like Tinder, and it's even harder to make it to a second or third date once you've had a first.

It doesn't have to be as difficult as everyone else makes it out to be, and you don't need to read a 300 page volume to tell you how to get a date.

Here's how to separate dating from all the overly complicated BS people will tell you about it.

Forget Negging

“Negging” is an old pickup technique from books in the 90s and early 2000s that tell people to grab someone's attention with a mixture of compliments and insults: Something that seems like a compliment, but isn't (and at the same time, kind of still is).

It's a technique that most women can spot at a mile, and it irritates most of them. Negging doesn't work, negging doesn't get you anywhere and whoever you're with is likely going to turn around and walk away if negging is the approach you choose.

Basic Grooming

Look good for your first date. Hell, look good for your hundredth. If you look good, you feel better – and anyone appreciates a person more when they fall into the category of “well groomed.”

It doesn't mean you have to take garden shears to your privates, but it means you should pay attention to things like aftershave, hair, underwear, the basics.

Skip basic grooming and you'll get turned down by most people (and also turned away from most restaurants).

He Who Invites, Pays

A lot of articles out there discuss who should pay for a few hundred lines or more and you still won't have a useful answer by the end of it. The simplest way to look at it is this: Whoever sends the invite should be the one that pays the bill.

Otherwise, you're forcing someone to chip out of their budget for an expense they didn't ask for – and on your account. That's not cool no matter what side of the “who should pay” argument you're standing.

If you asked someone on a date, you should be the one to pay for it.

There IS No “Call Rule”

If you've read any dating book, article or manifesto of any type, you'll hear a few hundred variations on the rule that tells you when to call or text after a date. Some of them say a week, others are going to tell you that it's a few days – and more of them say you shouldn't bother until they call or text you first.

There's no point to this. There is no “call rule.” Either contact someone after a date or don't.

Don't Try to Be Fancy

Many eligible bachelorettes and Perth escorts know the best restaurants in town. If you're taking someone out to one of the fancier kind of restaurants, don't try to be as fancy as the décor by switching to French or Italian if you don't speak a word of it.

The waiter or chef likely speaks it fluently, and unless you want to get your ass handed to you at a table in a few seconds, don't try foreign phases if the rest of your vocabulary isn't equipped.